Abdul Samad Hadi’s scientific contributions

The current focus of discussion on sustainable development centres around the various implementations of an agenda that is assumed to be accepted by all. Various proposals at the international level are accepted and implemented by various agencies at the local level many times without taking the local context into consideration. The assumption of uniformity, or at least similarity of values and priorities of cities drive current public and funding concerns.

This paper argues that the preparation of a good environment for urban wellbeing is directly related to efforts to develop urban sustainability. The concept of urban sustainability is matched with the concept of sustainable development which tries to achieve economic growth, while protecting the physical environment to generate urban socio-economic development. However, an urban area becomes unsustainable due to changes from natural environment to artificial environment. Therefore, a sustainable city attempts to achieve the economic growth to develop a good artificial urban environment for urban dweller wellbeing. The preparation of a good urban physical and social environment is matched with 'utopia' planning, which is planning for the best urban environment. This paper also argues that the way to create a good environment is by developing sustainable indicators. The indices can be used as tools to create urban sustainability as urban sustainability is still in the process stage and the final form does not exist.